When white people first came into central Tennessee, they found an Indian path which ran from the former Indian settlements around Nashville to the Chicasaw towns around Pon-to-toc in northern Mississippi where it connected with trails leading to all sections of the southern United States.

The United States never owned the public lands of Tennessee through which approximately 100 miles of the Natchez Trace ran. In Alabama, the Trace went only 40 miles and touched only two counties. 300 miles of the Trace lay in Mississippi.